Making spacefor the workthat matters.

If you’re a freelancer, you’ll know the pattern. Client work pays the bills. Side projects live in the margins. Half-started ideas sit quietly in notebooks, folders, and notes apps, waiting for the mythical moment when things “calm down”.

I’ve always had my own projects running alongside freelance work. Some are experiments. Some are distractions. Some never really make it past the idea stage.

But every now and then, one feels different.

For me, that’s Wild Things.

The idea came out of camping trips, muddy days, and long walks with our daughter. The kind where legs get tired before the path runs out. Like most parents, my wife and I were trying to keep little legs moving and curious minds engaged without turning every walk into a negotiation.

That feeling will be familiar to a lot of families. You want kids outdoors. You want them noticing things. Exploring. Wandering. But you don’t want to turn every walk into a lesson, a challenge, or a battle of wills.

Wild Things grew out of that space.

It’s a screen-free, illustrated outdoor activity kit for kids, designed to help them explore the outdoors in their own way. No points. No pressure. No performance. Just curiosity, noticing, and space to wander.

This isn’t a rushed idea. It’s one I’ve circled, parked, doubted, and come back to more than once. I haven’t really stopped thinking about it for the best part of two years. Always half-starting it. Never quite making the time. Picking at it without a clear direction, then putting it back down again when client work took over.

That’s the reality of freelance life. When you’re a freelance graphic designer, your energy goes where the deadlines are. Personal projects often get squeezed into evenings, weekends, or quiet spells that never quite last long enough.

But some ideas stick around for a reason.

This year, I’m committing to building Wild Things properly and launching it with intention. Not rushing it. Not forcing it into a neat box too early. I can see it going deeper than the original Explorers Club idea, which is exactly why I’m taking my time and doing it right.

Alongside my client work, this will be a slower, more deliberate build. I’ll be sharing regular check-ins here, partly to keep myself accountable, and partly to get feedback and ideas along the way. Building things entirely in your own head has a habit of warping them. I want this one shaped by real conversations, not an echo chamber.

This journal is where that process will live. Not as a polished product story, but as an honest look at what it’s like to build a meaningful creative project alongside freelance work, family life, and everything else that competes for attention.

If you’re curious about how this kind of work fits alongside client projects, you can read more about how I approach my freelance practice on my About page. And if you’re a business or organisation interested in working with a designer who values thoughtful, long-term projects, you’ll find more of that approach across my Journal and selected work.

It’s early days. But it feels like the right kind of work to be doing right now.
The kind of work I actually want to show up for.